There are only a few things you need to know to make a martini the way a man does: Make it dry, make it gin, make it brutally cold, and keep it simple.

"The quickest way to sissify a martini is to get creative," says David Wondrich, author of a forthcoming book on cocktails. "Don't garnish it with a sprig of rosemary or put a splash of Frangelico in it or do anything fancy whatsoever." As for making a martini with vodka, it's certainly possible. But if it's a man's drink you're after, stick with gin and aim for a gin-to-vermouth ratio somewhere between five to one and eight to one, depending on how strong you like it. "Any more vermouth and it's unbearably watery," says Wondrich. "Any less and you might as well be drinking straight gin, which is fine but not a martini."